Shazam! Director Reveals Casting Change Made Due To Test Audiences

09/22/2020 08:04 pm EDT

Never let it be said that director David F. Sandberg doesn't pull the curtain back on his films. Since the release of Shazam! last year he's been revealing details about the production and how they were forced to adapt to unseen circumstances on set and in the edit. The latest of these comes from a fan on Twitter, who inquired about actor John Glover appearing as the young and older version of Mr. Sivana. To their credit it's a little funny to see there's little noticeable difference between how he appears in the 1970s and then 2019, but there was a big reason for it though, it was confusing to audiences.

"We originally cast different actors for young and old but test audiences didn't get that they were the same person," Sandberg tweeted. "It can actually be a problem even if you have the same actor with a different hairstyle or something. Make sure your characters have really distinct features."

This reveal from Sandberg is one of many that he's confirmed to fans about the filmmaking process on the movie. Perhaps the most interesting of these is when he published a video on his YouTube channel titled "The Problem Solving of Filmmaking." In the video Sandberg breaks down two moments from the movie where a situation came up that required an extra bit of thinking in order to make it work.

The first of these was Shazam's fight with Sivana in a crowded shopping mall where after weeks of working on the shot and getting the effects just right for the final edit, they noticed the crew members were visible in the background, just standing and watching star Zachary Levi. The fix was simple despite as big of a deal as you might assume this issue would be.

The second example from the video, which you can find below, revolved around the scene after Billy Batson runs away from his group home. Sandberg breaks down how the production was forced to consider where the kids are in the scene since not all of them were available, while also wondering what they should wear since it's what they're wearing for the entire movie. It's a fascinating and candid look at moviemaking that not a lot of major directors would openly admit to, check it out for yourself below!

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